NP: June 17, 1864 Raleigh Confederate: Hoke’s Brigade, June 10

Editors Confederate:–On Tuesday the 7th, our brigade was warmly engaged in skirmishing with the enemy. It was one of the most spirited contests in this species of warfare to which I have listened since I have been connected with the army. Late in the afternoon our advanced line of skirmishers charged and took the line of rifle pits occupied by the yankee sharp-shooters, capturing about forty prisoners, including one Lieutenant. The enemy’s loss in killed and wounded was considerable. The loss of our brigade on this day will amount to about sixty in killed and wounded, of the former, I think not more than five may be noted. Our men held the rifle pits until dark, and then returned to the position held in the morning. The Sixth and Fifty-fourth regiments were the principal sufferers on this day.

On Wednesday evening, at dark, the enemy opened upon Gen. Hill’s troops a most violent fire of artillery, in order to disturb them in the work of repairing McClellan’s bridge across the Chickahominy. From the position of the enemy’s artillery they were not able to disturb effectually the work on the causeway and bridge, and during the night the repairs were all effected, and the road so important to the movements of our troops was put in good condition, and is defended by a line of strong breastworks.

On yesterday, Thursday the 9th, a strange and unaccountable calm in hostilities seemed to prevail in the two armies. The crack of the sharp shooter’s rifle were but seldom heard, and the roar of artillery, as if by common consent, was hushed.

Up to this hour, 7 o’clock p. m., the same order of things prevails to-day. Last night, Gen. Ramseur’s division, to which our brigade now belongs, moved some two miles further to our right, I suppose to correspond with a similar move on the part of the enemy. Grant seems to be slowly inching himself down in this direction. His position is certainly embarrassing, and is surrounded with difficulties. In a note book or diary found upon the body of a yankee lieutenant killed on Tuesday, was recorded, as an item of history, this remarkable sentence: “Gen. Grant has issued the order announcing that the active campaign around Richmond has closed, and the siege of the city is fairly begun.” This will certainly be a rare piece of news in the city.

The following are the casualties in Hoke’s brigade during the operations around here within the last ten days1:

SOPO Editor’s Note: Line breaks inserted after company and regiment for clarity. Grammar and punctuation are all over the place in this casualty list. No attempt was made to correct these errors other than the aforementioned line breaks. ↩

SOPO Editor’s note: “1 missing” should be added to the list to get the total of 8. This looks like an omission on the part of the person writing this casualty list out or the person who prepared it for the paper. ↩